salt & straw. and other random portland things.

 

Do you like ice cream? Mm, me too. Pretty much every single kind out there, with the exceptions of Green Tea (bleh) and Pistachio (meh).

I'm an Oregon girl. More specifically, a Portland-er. (okay, so I don't actually live in Portland, but I'm about 1/2 hour away). If you don't know Portland, it's a beautiful urban city; very 'green,' very hip, and very health-oriented. Seriously, in the City of Roses (because yes, we're known for those, too), if you bike to work and shop at Whole Foods Market, you are majorly awesome.

One of the things I love about Portland are all the small, crazy cool yummy places. Oh, and I forgot to mention: for a foodie business, crafting local + being utterly unique = win. We have tons of little French-ish cafes, cozy bakeries, and, of course, creameries.  Like Salt & Straw.

This is a pretty random post, because for starters, I haven't even been to Salt & Straw.  But I saw an ad for it the other day, and was thinking, "Oh my goodness, this place looks amazing--" and then I realized it was right in my own homecity! So I thought I would post about it and file it under the categories of "filling you in about my home" and "things I love." A.k.a., "Portland," and "ice cream."

  

Salt & Straw is a pretty amazing ice creamery located in uptown Portland, Oregon. As I said above--I've never been there. But listen to this and gaze with me upon these pictures, and I think you will agree that this place should be on mine and your's "places-I-wanna-go" Pinterest boards. 

For starters, the ice cream is crazy, yet delicious--or so I've heard. I mean, here are some of the flavors:

Oregon Kiss

Ocumare Single Origin Chocolate

Catalonian Breakfast

Pear with Blue Cheese (not too sure about this one..)

Arbequina Olive Oil

Sumptown Coffee Cold-Brewed with Cocoa Nibs

Chocolate with Gooey Brownies

Lemon Basil Sorbet

Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper

Double Fold Singing Dog Vanilla

Sea Salt Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon 

Melon with Coppa

..and the list goes on. Apparently, Salt & Straw's ice cream is made with 17% Butterfat (helloooo calories!), churned with care "to be sure very little air is let in to ensure a nice bite," and kept low on sweetening "so the flavors can shine through." And listen what they do to ensure the caramel in "Caramel Ribbon" is amazing:

To take the edge off a bit, we've spent hours

over a hot stove perfectly burning caramel

for the sweet + salty combo that

you can't have just one lick of.

Um, yum. 

 

 

I guess all that needs to happen now is me visiting the place of glory. What flavor would you pick--or, more dramatically--what flavor will you pick when you come visit me and we go to Salt & Straw for reals?  ;) I'm thinking Big Hibiscus Sherbet or Grandma Malek's Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache. :] 

So there you have it. A little bit of Portland for ya. And just in the spirit of educating my readers about the places and spaces where I abide (because I am really and truly a real person and not just a blogging robot, in case you wondered), and in case there are some trivia geeks among us, here a few of my personal goods and bads about Portland.

The Good:

The gorgeous gardens. >> We have many--the Rose Garden, which absolutely stunning during rose season, and definitely one of our trademarks, the Japanese Gardens, etc.

The many running/walking/hiking paths. >> Portland is quite literally a city in the woods. There is city, and then, out of the blue, there are...woods. Trails are numerous, and I like that.

The coffee shops. >> I don't spend much time in these, due to lack of funds and the state of being, currently, a non-coffee drinker (though I do like it), but we have tons of cute ones. :)

The Bad:

Portland is the Human Trafficking hotspot of the nation. >> Just found this out this year, and believe me, you will never catch me walking around the city alone at night. Eek.

Portland is insanely weird. >> Yup, I wouldn't blame you for seeing hippies waving peace signs and sporting dreadlocks when you think, "Portland." And you will see numerous bumper stickers saying, "Keep Portland Weird!" ..if you ever travel our way. o.O

Portland is insanely and annoyingly liberal. >> 'Nuff said.

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So. There's my little random post about Salt & Straw and other random Portland things. :) Come and visit me, whydontcha?

-lucia



ps-on second thought, honey balsamic strawberry with cracked pepper looks pretty sweet. wacky but interesting.  i wonder...